The invention relates to a bag tube with a foil material which forms an end-face wall and two lateral walls of the tube, wherein the lateral walls are connected to one another along two lateral edge sections, and with a shoulder piece which comprises a closable outlet connection piece and a flange which is fastened to the end-face wall and which is curved like the end-face wall.
It is often desirable to place upright such a bag tube with a closure cap closing the opening of the shoulder piece directed downwards. With this there exists the danger that the tube falls over, because the foil material deforms under the weight of the contents of the tube. The danger in particular exists when the foil materialxe2x80x94in a likewise desirable mannerxe2x80x94is formed thin, light and flexible.
An object of the invention lies in forming a bag tube of the previously mentioned type such that the previously outlined danger of falling over when the tube as indicated is placed on the head is reduced.
According to the invention the object is achieved in that the flange proceeding from the outlet connection piece outwardly extends along the end-face wall up to a middle region of each lateral wall and extends along the end-face wall in the direction of the two edge sections of the lateral walls.
Preferably there may be provided two tabs which proceed from the flange and bear on the middle region of the lateral walls. These offer additionally a protection of the foil material against twisting or damage when the tube is grasped in the region of the end-face wall for screwing off or screwing on. In order to ensure a residual emptying of the tube these tabs advantageously are to be formed flexibly.
The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a deformable container which is envisaged for accommodating a pasty product, specifically to a method according to the preamble of patent claim 7.
For packaging pasty products such as mustard, mayonnaise, toothpaste as well as cream-like cosmetic and medical products above all aluminium, laminate and plastic tubes are used.
Known aluminium tubes are generally cylindrical and have at one end-face end a conical end-face with an outlet connection piece which can be closed with a screw top. The method for manufacturing aluminium tubes is work intensive and cost intensive. Thus aluminium tubes are premanufactured with the impact extrusion method from an aluminium circular blank on a first varnishing machine are varnished on the inner side, by way of a pressure machine are pressed to the outside and on a second varnishing machine are varnished over on the outside. By way of a further device then the closure top is screwed onto the premanufactured tubes.
With the manufacture of such known tubes the ends of the tubes, which face the closure top, are left open. On filling the tubes the pasty product is filled in through this open end, whereupon the tube is then completely closed.
Since the tubes and the pasty products to be filled are usually manufactured in different manufacturing plants, the premanufactured empty tubes must be packaged and transported from the tube manufacturer to the product manufacturer, where they are then filled with the corresponding product and closed. At the tube manufacturer as well as also at the product manufacturer storage rooms are therefore required for the intermediate storage of the empty tubes ready for filling. The intermediate storage as well as also the transport from the tube manufacturer to the filling plant of the product manufacturer is considerably disadvantageous for the economics of the tube manufacture. Added to this is the fact that on storage and transporting the empty tubes which are opened at the end-face, contaminations may not be be prevented from getting into the empty tubes, which then in many cases renders necessary the prior provision of additional cleaning and sterilisation procedures in the production operation of the product manufacturer.
In a very similar manner the already known plastic tubes are manufactured. With this tubing blanks are manufactured which in subsequent machines are printed, varnished and subsequently provided with a closure body. These tubes too are open likewise on one side and are intermediately stored at the tube manufacturer as well as also at the product manufacturer.
From the European Patent specification 0xe2x80x2041xe2x80x2924 there is known a flexible container which can be manufactured and filled in a continous method, thus may be completed ready for sale at only one plant. This known tube-like container comprise a tube body which is manufactured from a one-piece foil and which on its folded end-face side is provided with an outlet and has two walls which have an essentially rectangular outline, are welded to one another at three sides and are located on various sides of a plane of symmetry running through the tube longitudinal axis.
With a method which has the the manufacture of the container as well as also the filling procedure as the subject-matter, in particular the filling of the containers determines the cycle for the whole production. The containers must be manufactured as quickly as the product may be filled. Thus the method steps welding, cutting to shape, welding-on of the outlet connection piece and placing on the closure top, must be effected in the same cycle number as the filling of the premanufactured containers. Difficulties in maintaining the method parameters or delays in the cycle frequency then occur when the outlet connection piece for reasons of manufacturing technology may only be welded from one side as roughly is the case with the method known from from EPB 0 041 924. Thus in this method the outlet connection piece from the inner side is placed into an opening of the premanufactured tube body and is welded to the foil from the outer side. This welding procedure with this delays the filling output and has the result that the manufacturing and filling capacity is reduced.
The invention also deals with the further object of providing a new method for manufacturing a deformable container which not only makes possible the manufacture of the container but also the simultaneous filling from continuously prepared containers and which does not have the disadvantages of the previously described manufacturing methods.
Proceeding from the European Patent document 0xe2x80x2041xe2x80x2924 this object is achieved by the features of patent claim 7.
The invention further relates to a new-type, deformable container, manufacturable according to the method of claim 7, specifically a container with the features of claim 14.
Advantageous embodiment forms of the method and of the container are the subject-matter of the dependent claims 8 to 13 or 15 and 16.
The new-type method according to the invention is essentially characterised by the fact that in only one working process from high-quality foil material a container is formed, filled with a pasty product, closed and subsequently packaged.
The method according to the invention has big advantages. It is inexpensive, simple in logistics and product preparation as well able to be used in every filling plant without giving it a second thought. The manufacturing costs are furthermore also relatively small since the containers are formed in simple steps and as such do not need to be premanufactured and intermediately stored. The containers may thus be directly manufactured in the plant of the product manufacturer or at pay fillers.
The containers which may be manufactured by the method according to the invention consists of a flexible one-layered foil material but also of a likewise flexible multi-layered compound material of plastic, aluminium and/or paper. Thus for example it may be the case of a three-layered, foil-like compound material consisting of polyester, aluminium and polypropylene or polyester, aluminium and polyethylene, wherein then the polyester forms the outer layer, the aluminium the middle layer and the polypropylene or the polyethylene the inner layer of the container.